Making The Grade Barwise Technology

Making The Grade Barwise Technology

Middle schools are jumping on board the tech bandwagon and finding ways to utilize technology in all subject areas.

Middle schools are jumping on board the tech bandwagon and finding ways to utilize technology in all subject areas. In Tonight's Making the Grade, Eddie Randle shows us what measures teachers at Barwise are taking to keep their students ahead of the game.

From the moment you walk into Barwise Jr. High you can tell this campus is all about technology. Teachers are using computers, projectors ipads and more in just about every class and subject.

A program called EDU MOTTO allows teachers students and parent to interact together. And the interface is what keeps the students engaged."It looks allot like facebook so the students like the social networking aspect of it, they like to be able to talk to on another as well as their teacher", says Casey Hunter, WFISD Instructional Technology Coordinator.

"The kids are excited I've received messages from them and they cant wait to start doing some of their lessons on there", says 8th grade science teacher Debra McClure. But the students arent the only ones benefiting from this form of educational technology.

"Parents have access to see what their students are doing and can check on their progress and see what they turned into the teacher so its a great communication tool", says Hunter.

"The parents I've received really good feedback from them I'm keeping them informed and they are able to keep up that communication with their kids on what's going on in their classroom", said McClure. Barwise also introduced the mimeo which creates and interactive white board where the students can move things on a screen and get response on the screen too .

"They are engaged i bring out the mimio and hand go up. I've had one student stand up with his hands raised because he wants me to pick on him so bad to answer the question", says McClure. Teachers and administrators say this gives students a digital portfolio that will follow beyond their secondary education.

"This is real life and when you go into the work place your probably going to be on facebook or twitter etc.. so this prepares kids for how they will interact with others as a digital citizen when they get to college when they go out into the military, when they get a real job", said Hunter. Eddie Randle KFDX 3NEWS.

Mrs. McClure says she also implemented *Remind 101* which is a text message she sends out that reminds students of upcoming test, quizzes and special projects.